


Empty House

by mrcheese5728



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Bad Flirting, Billy Hargrove Has a Crush on Steve Harrington, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Child Neglect, Gay Billy Hargrove, Lifeguard Billy Hargrove, Light Angst, M/M, Steve Harrington Can't Flirt, Steve Harrington Has a Crush on Billy Hargrove, Steve Harrington Is a Mess, Steve Harrington Needs Love, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug, Steve Harrington-centric, Swimming Pools, They move real fast but their both disasters and idc, crop tops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-10-06 19:43:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20512454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrcheese5728/pseuds/mrcheese5728
Summary: “Am I dreaming or is that you, Harrington?” Billy purrs, peaking over his sunglasses to loom over Steve. The rest of the pool has stopped paying attention to Billy for the most part, sans the party, and Billy is standing right next to Steve’s deck chair.Shit, Billy must have seen Steve staring, fuck fuck fuck think of something to say-“I’m pretty sure that you’re from my dreams, Hargrove.”Wrong thing to say.What the fuck, Steve.





	Empty House

**Author's Note:**

> I was bored. Let me have this. Enjoy the thought of Billy wearing crop tops. Also Steve is a lonely boi in that house, sorry.  
(also I know they move fast but just go with it they both disasters that have crushes on one another)

Steve may have signed up to be a babysitter, but he  _ didn’t  _ sign up to be a chauffeur.

He hated it. 

Dustin was  _ so  _ persistent though, and when he got those bright happy eyes and wide goofy smile when Steve said yes, Steve had to reluctantly admit to himself that he was powerless against the nerdiest little shits in Hawkins. Even if their general existence gave him a major headache and their bickering made him want to crash his car.

That being said, he was only  _ mildly _ annoyed when the party asked if he wanted to swim with them at the local pool. Steve’s first reaction was to slam the door on their cheery faces and tell them to come back later, but he really hadn’t done anything. His life consisted of scooping ice cream for Scoops Ahoy, getting shamed by his coworker, picking and dropping off the nerds, sitting around the almost-always empty house, eating whatever he put in his fridge, and laying in bed until the next day. Repeat. Maybe add a pity party, if Steve was feeling spicy. Nobody was ever there to witness it, anyway.

It really was an empty house. When Steve was younger, he used to pretend it was a castle. He would run up and down the stairs, pretending to slay the mighty dragon or explore new lands. His mother would indulge him occasionally, giving him a polite smile when he asked her to play with him and help him bring his world to life, and then politely decline. Sometimes she’d even stroke his cheek and tell him that he was such an imaginative young boy, and that he was going to grow up into a fine young man.

Then the phone would ring, and the fragile illusion that they were any type of functional family would shatter and Steve would be alone again. 

Steve sometimes turned to his dad to play with, but that was met with significantly more harsh responses, ranging from  _ “I’m busy, Steven.” _ to  _ “Grow up, Steven. You’re not living in a fantasy world, you’ll never be a proper man if you live in your head all day.” _

Steve stopped asking him to join him pretty early on. 

He learned quickly that his parents like to just throw money at a situation and call it solved, and his room had been filled with toys and sports equipment he never wanted and never played with. Basketball made his father satisfied though, and Steve basked in the attention while it lasted.

It was over pretty quickly.

When the week long business trips turned into  _ months,  _ Steve had been angry at himself. Was he not good enough? Did he do something wrong? Was he too clingy?

(He doesn’t know the answer to those questions, even now.)

His mother left him a voicemail every now and then, talking about a conference she had just been in, and his father had made sure that Steve knew he had a place working for his father. He’d be sure to remind Steve that college was coming up, and to make sure Steve got his shit together.

It always felt like a threat. Or maybe that was just because Steve very much did  _ not  _ have his shit together.

He spent his life in an endless loop, and it was still a mess.

So Steve didn’t slam the door in the face of the bunch of almost-carefree children he babysat. 

Driving to the pool gave Steve a headache, as predicted. Next to him, Dustin screamed to the nerds in the back seat despite  _ literally being in the same car, _ and Mike, Will, Lucas, and Max were just as eager to scream back.

He couldn’t even understand how they were having three simultaneous conversations at once, so he gave up trying to understand what the hell was going on. He parked in the very crowded community pool parking lot, and sighed heavily as the kids rushed out of his car and to the trunk at top speed. He grumbled as he got out, locking the car behind him. 

“You little shits ready to swim in pee infested water?” Steve asked, watching people scream and splash in the pool. Ugh.

“Hell yeah!”

“Don’t be so  _ gross,  _ Steve.”

“It’s not THAT bad.”

Steve groaned, and narrowly caught the bag Dustin through at him. The group made their way through the gate, Steve paid for them to get in, and then they were at the pool. The kids tossed their bags at Steve and began making a beeline for the child-infested water.

“Watch our stuff!” Mike yelled, rushing away. 

“Don’t drown on me and don’t do anything stupid, you little shits!” Steve hollered back, grumbling at the quick getaway. He winced at the dirty eye the mothers near him gave him.

He made his way to the deck chairs in the least crowded place and plunked down on the chair gracelessly, a clear view of the kids and right next to the lifeguard chair. Steve slipped his sunglasses on from his bag, and leaned back, content. 

The summer was warm, but not incredibly so, and Steve basked in the sun. He watched as the kids single handedly started a full blown splash war with one another, and smiled slightly.

They really were dorks, and Steve was glad they were having fun. 

(He felt a slight ache that he wasn’t playing with them, but reminded himself that the water was full of other children and pee and it was enough to shove the ache down. Mostly.)

Steve had lost track of time until he heard a wave of wolf whistles go through the crowd, mostly from girls. He lazily turned his head to see what was the cause of such commotion, and nearly fell out of the deck chair with his double take. 

Billy Hargrove was there, making his way out of the building and strutting around like he owned the place, radiating confidence.

Billy Hargrove was wearing bright red, small swimming shorts. They were hugging him  _ very  _ well, and left little room for imagination. 

And Billy Hargrove was wearing a  _ crop top.  _ It ended a few inches above his belly button, and the top flowed around him as he strutted. It left his six pack clean on display for everyone to see.

Steve stared, feeling his cheeks heat up. 

Oh, and Billy Hargrove was making his way straight to Steve too.

“Am I dreaming or is that you, Harrington?” Billy purrs, peaking over his sunglasses to loom over Steve. The rest of the pool has stopped paying attention to Billy for the most part, sans the party, and Billy is standing right next to Steve’s deck chair.

_ Shit,  _ Billy must have seen Steve staring,  _ fuck fuck fuck think of something to say- _

“I’m pretty sure that you’re from my dreams, Hargrove.”

Wrong thing to say.

What the  _ fuck,  _ Steve.

Billy looked very surprised for a moment, before giving Steve a shit eating grin. Steve felt his face burn even more, and he mentally beat himself with the spiked bat.

“Are you saying I’m in your dreams, pretty boy?”  _ FIX THIS STEVE. _

“Ye-no, no no no, I don’t even know what I meant by that, you’re not in my dreams. You’re not. I like girls. You’re not even in my dreams, especially not my wet dreams. No. You’re not in those dreams either. Yeah.” Steve rushed out, feeling himself redden even more. 

He’s going to drown himself in the pool.

It’d be less humiliating.

Because Steve has  _ definitely _ had those dreams, and he very clearly made it obvious to  _ Billy fucking Hargrove. _

Billy is staring at him now, over the sunglasses and Steve once more wishes for death. He blinks once, twice before licking his lips quickly and leaning very, very closely. Steve’s eyes caught on the crop top again, watching it flow around him. Steve didn’t know if he wanted to watch it for days or rip it off him.

Billy is giving him a very intense look, and Steve can’t help but notice the many freckles covering Billy’s face. Steve hasn’t ever had a chance to see Billy’s face close up in the daytime, and he mentally screams. 

Billy Hargove is hot. He’s a dick with an ego and probably daddy issues, but he’s still  _ really fucking hot _ and Steve is man enough to admit that to himself. He let him enjoy the moment, because the freak out about what just happened will definitely happen later when he’s by himself in the empty house.

“How about we talk about this later, pretty boy. I’ll drop by your house tonight, I’m very curious to hear about those dreams I’m  _ definitely _ not in.” He winks at him, before straightening up and walking to the lifeguard chair. Steve watches him get in the chair in shock.

_ What? _

Steve can’t believe what just happened to him, and he took a minute to digest it.

Steve all but admitted that he has a huge gay crush on Billy Hargrove. Billy Hargrove wears  _ crop tops _ . Billy Hargrove is coming over to his empty empty house tonight, and they’re going to  _ talk. _ Billy Hargrove likes guys, then, otherwise he wouldn’t have basically asked to 

It gives Steve a headache that easily rivals the headaches the party brings on.

“-eve! Hey Steeevvee! STEVE!” Steve joltted, and he realized that Dustin had been calling him for the past minute. He shook off whatever the hell just happened for the moment, and got up to hang out with the party in the pool, pee infested water or not.

Steve had to admit that at the end of the pool day, it didn’t go horribly. The kids were idiots, obviously, and his car definitely needed to be washed of dirty pool water but it was fun. 

He’d dropped the kids off, and now Steve was cleaning the hell out of his house.

It’s not like it was actually dirty. Steve didn’t go in most rooms of the house, and he didn’t have many dishes because fuck washing dishes, and used plastic silverware and paper plates instead.

The house didn’t look _bad,_ but it looked emptier when it’s cleaner. 

(Steve tried to soothe himself with the thought that if Billy actually showed up, then the house might not appear to be so empty.)

He ordered a pizza and paced around the living room. The knock at the door nearly gave him a heart attack, and he was pissed when it ended up being the pizza delivery guy instead of Billy. 

Whatever. Steve can wait. 

When Billy actually showed up at the door, he was leaning cockily against the doorframe, looking extremely dressed up for a night at somebody’s house. (Steve had no idea if he should call it a date or not.)

He’s wearing that stupid black leather jacket that makes Steve want to get on his knees, and he’s wearing the jeans that hug him just right and drive everybody with eyes crazy.

He’s also wearing  _ another crop top _ . 

This crop top is a very pretty blue, bringing out Billy’s eyes and, once again, putting Billy’s abs on display for the world to see. Steve tried to hide the shift in his jeans, but based on the way that Billy smirked he’s guessing he’s unsuccessful.

Billy raised his hand to reveal a bottle of vodka. 

“You up for talking about those dreams, pretty boy?” Billy grinned, like he already knew the answer. Steve coughs nervously. 

“Come on in, you asshole.” Steve can  _ feel _ his face burning.

“Great.” Billy purred.

Steve knew he was screwed, but when Billy walked into the house he felt a little better that the house wasn’t as empty.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts?


End file.
